ishin-denshin
by sessha16
Summary: ...Ishin-denshin literally translates as "what the mind thinks, the heart transmits." - wiki... collection of RenjixRukia drabbles...
1. Last Name

_...so i've been wanting to write another RenRuki fic and despite the many plots the bunnies are giving me, i've been too lazy to write..._

_...but this one had me, or rather forced me, to write it..._

_...but due to the shortness of this one, and the many others i had lying untouched on my desktop, i decided to just make a drabble dump for RenRuki fics..._

_...**NOTE**: **Ishin-Denshin** means a silent, unspoken mutual understanding between two people. __It is said that in Japan, it's the term used for when two married couple could communicate without saying anything. _I saw the term in one of my many saved notepads (the term probably taken from Inuyasha or Ranma) and thought it was the best way to describe Renji and Rukia's relationship. 

_**Disclamer**: Bleach is not mine, nor does Renji (bummer)..._

* * *

Rukia didn't have a last name.

Or if she did, she didn't remember.

The old lady who picked her up and raised her had once mentioned that the blanket she was wrapped in when she was found had a name on it. She was only able to make out the name "Rukia" and the last name was lost in the dirt and grime that clung to the overused, unwashed cheap cloth that protected her from the harsh environment of Rukongai.

Back then, it didn't really matter that she didn't have a last name. It was only until she and Renji had decided to enter the Spiritual Arts Academy that it became a bother to her.

"Hey, Renji. Can I use your last name?" She called to him, while they were filling out the form for the entrance exam.

Renji stared at her for a minute and belatedly let out a brief laugh as he processed what she was asking of him. Rukia shot him a deathly glare, not voicing her question of what was so darn funny.

"Are you an idiot? If you use my last name, they'd think we're related. But then they'd never believe that because you are a midget."

Her death glare became more intense and Renji didn t have the time to dodge a painful blow to his temple. "And you're a giant oaf!"

What was that for? Renji said, rubbing the part of his head that was hit. When Rukia didn t reply, he placed a gentle hand to playfully ruffle her hair. "Relax. You can just enter your name and leave the last name blank. I'm sure you're not the only one to enter the Academy without a last name."

He threw her another smile, which was promptly ignored by Rukia, who busied herself again with the entrance form. He tried to peek at her paper a few minutes later and noticed that Rukia did leave her last name blank and thought to himself, _"Someday, I'll give you my last name."_

...

It was not Renji who gave her a last name.

And now, looking at her, talking to the kid who saved her, as they bicker about something that he can barely hear, he dejectedly wondered if she would still want to have his last name.


	2. Star

_...i didn't intend for this to end this way, but my writing has a way of going off from my original ideas... i'll be working on another drabble, and hopefully i can get a fluffy RenRuki next time..._

* * *

**Star**

"They say that when people die, they turn into stars. They stay in the skies so they can watch over their loved ones. And if the living ones are lonely, they can look up in the skies and know that they are just there, looking over them."

When Renji found Rukia, she was idly sitting by the garden of the 13th Division. The crescent moon above them was overshadowed by the passing cloud, causing an eerie halo amidst the darkened sky littered with shiny stars. The chilly evening wind made the leaves of the trees in the garden sway and if Rukia or Renji was affected by the cold, they didn't show it.

Renji stared at the back of Rukia for awhile, silently thinking of an answer. He thought of her shortened black hair and how he's still getting used to it. Despite the short hair or the badge on her arm, the person in front of him is still Rukia; the person he'd known for a long time, the person he'd almost died trying to save, the one person he'd consider to be a star.

"And where did you get that stupid idea?" Renji blurted. Rukia didn't look back and instead looked at the ground beneath her swaying feet. "People don't turn into stars when they die, you should know that. They turn into plusses and if they're consumed by their sorrow, they turn into hollows. We perform soul burial to the plusses and we deal with killing the hollows. Either way, people who die, will end up in Soul Society. If they're lucky, they can become Soul Reapers like us."

"You're right. It's just something I heard from the human world." Rukia stood up, dusting what little dirt she gathered by sitting. She fixed the lieutenant badge wrapped around her left arm, avoiding Renji's gaze.

_Right. The human world. Of course._

"Look, I'm sure he misses you too." Renji tried not to stumble with his words. The last thing he needed to do was cause more sorrow for Rukia. But in all the things he could've said, it was the only thing he knew was right.

"I don't know what you're talking about." Rukia paused. She began walking towards Renji, but still refused to meet his eyes. "Come on, I don't want to be late for my first emergency Lieutenant meeting." Rukia's voice was stern and Renji cursed her insistence to mask her emotion, like it would work on him.

Renji could only follow her in silence, noticing the way her shoulder still sag a little, despite her effort of putting up a brave posture, acting like nothing was bothering her.

_"I guess, some people do turn into stars. While others are left on the ground, staring up at them."_


	3. Gift

_...two updates in one day... ^^;_

_...this one slightly veered off course, but i think it ended up ok... so far, the longest drabble in this series..._

* * *

**Gift**

The argument would always start the same.

"It's just a chappy!"

"It's just a pair of shades!"

Most of the time, it would end with them joking about how stupid their obsessions were. And in some days, they would start ignoring each other until one of them would relent and talk about how stupid it was that they argued about their stupid obsessions.

Today, however, the fight went on a little serious.

They were on an unexpected mission in the Rukongai that Renji had no time to remove his shades and replace it with his maroon bandana. Incidentally, it was also that time when Rukia was just showing Renji her new acquisition of a Chappy keychain that was as big as Renji's palm. Due to the size of it, Renji joked that it could cling to the hilt of his zanpakto and it wouldn't fall off, no matter what he did. Unfortunately for Renji, he had gotten his shades hit by Rukia's miscalculated kidou spell and somehow lost the Chappy along the way.

"You broke my shades!"

"You lost my chappy!"

"That's because you broke my shades. If you didn't, then I wouldn't have dropped your precious chappy!"

"I don't care if it's the most prestigious, fashionable shades in the whole of Seireitei, or of the whole Soul Society even, IT...IS...JUST...A...PAIR OF SHADES!"

"Which cost me a lot of money! Not that it would matter to you!"

And then it ended with that. Rukia left, stomping her foot on the hard wood floor of his quarters. Renji could only furrow his tattooed brows, almost close to pulling the hair off his head in aggravation. He followed shortly after, finding his way into the 11th Division, to vent his pent up frustration to unsuspecting members of the squad, who would take on his dare of a fight.

But just like any fight, one of them would end up caving in.

With calculated steps, Rukia reached the doors to Renji's quarters. She stared at the door for a minute, mustering her courage to knock on the door. She was still unsure of what she was to say, but she knew that it has to end; whatever 'it' was. Just as she was about to raise her hand to knock on the door, she heard heavy footsteps from the other side, steadfastly coming towards her. In a flash, the door flew open to reveal Renji, who almost bumped into her in his haste to leave his place.

"Rukia! What are you doing here?"

"Well, I figured I'd save you the time to come over to me to apologize."

"What?" Renji looked at her for a minute, confusion clearly etched on his features.

"I'm saying, I will forgive you for losing my Chappy, if you will forgive me for breaking your shades. Deal?" Rukia raised her right hand, expecting for Renji to do the same. When Renji just gawked at her, she prepared to punch his silly face. However, instead of holding her hand for a handshake, Renji grasped the back of it and turned it over to place a Chappy keychain on her open palm. The Chappy was just as big as her hands.

"It's not as big as the one I lost and I think the ears are not as fluffy as the other one either, but it's the only one I could get in the short amount of time."

Rukia stared at the Chappy on her hand and for a minute, she felt the time stop. She suddenly felt her heart thumping so hard on her chest that she could hear it beating so loud. She expected that he would come over the Kuchiki Mansion to apologize to her and that he might get her a gift to apologize, but she was not expecting that it would be one of the limited edition Chappy that she, herself, had a hard time ordering.

"Shuuhei told me that there'll be another catalogue coming up in a few days. If you don't want this and if you can wait, I'll let you choose for what you think is best from there."

"No." Rukia murmured. Renji was startled and started to withdraw his hand when Rukia grabbed unto it and looked at him. "No, this is perfect."

Rukia made a move to hug Renji, but since Renji was not expecting it, he stepped back and tripped on the tatami floor. This caused him to fall on his back with Rukia trampling over him.

"Stupid! Why'd you step back?" Rukia tried to punch him on his chest, which was the only part of him that she can successfully reach at the moment.

"I thought you were gonna punch me." Renji defended, stopping another blow from her. He tried to sit up, bringing along Rukia with him, when he felt something on his thigh.

"Uh... Rukia... You're poking me." He mentioned, pointing to where Rukia was still on his thigh, trying to push herself up and sit on an empty space in between Renji's legs.

"Oh! That..." Rukia said. As soon as she was seated properly, with her legs beneath her, she reached for the package underneath her clothes and place it in front of her. "I know it's not August yet, but... here, my early birthday present!"

Renji accepted the box that she pushed to him and carefully inspected it. When he opened it, he was greeted by a shiny new Silver Dragonfly shades.

"I saw it on sale so I thought I'd buy it. But don't expect another gift from me on your birthday." Rukia explained. However, Renji was already too mesmerized and was gawking at the shades in front of him to reply. Although she said that the shades was on sale, anything from Silver Dragonfly was never cheap.

Renji smiled at her and raised a hand in between them. "So, we're even?"

"Whatever." Rukia said, before reaching to shake Renji's hand to finally end their argument.

But both of them knew that this is just the end of the many fights they'll have about Chappy and shades.


	4. Vector

_...i originally wanted this to be a separate one-shot fic, but somehow, i got lazy..._

_...writing this was sort of annoying, especially since i couldn't get the feeling i wanted in it, but i hope i was still able to pull it off in the end (i doubt, but anyways _)_

_...this is slightly influenced by the song **Vector** by **Maaya Sakamoto**..._

* * *

**Vector**_  
_

_If you'd rather be somewhere  
that's not here  
then you just gotta tell me  
Cause there's so much more to life, than pretending_

It was just another regular afternoon.

And just like any other regular afternoon, he found Rukia sitting there, impassively looking into the sunset. Wordlessly, he sat next to her and if she noticed, she never showed it or acknowledged him. Imitating Rukia, he turned to stare ahead at the sun as well. As it was slowly swallowed by the orange-painted horizon, he wondered what was so mesmerizing with the sight that made her go back here all the time.

He winced at the thought that formed in his head and willed himself not to think about it.

He spared her a sidelong glance and although he didn't want to see it, he saw a sad longing look in her eyes that caused his heart to tighten. It the same look that he only saw when she thought he wasn't looking. The look that was always there since she came back.

_"Do you regret returning here? Do you want to go back?"_

He was a coward. Many would dispute his self-assertion, but he thought of himself a coward. He may have defeated many hollows and even more than a handful of Soul Society's enemies, but he was still a coward. It's not that he was afraid to ask, but it was the answer that he was afraid to hear. So decided not to ask her and rather assumed he already knew the answer. Instead, he sat quietly beside her, just waiting for her until she decided to leave.

He looked back at the sunset and saw how the colors were slowly being saturated with the darkening of the sky, with the light twinkling of the barely noticeable stars. Silently, he thanked the stars for coming out, for replacing the painful brightness of the sun.

Just before the sun was totally gone, just before the sky was consumed by the darkness of the evening clouds, just as the orange hue was mingled with the subtle fiery red color washing away the color of the sun, he chanced another look at Rukia. Just as he expected, he saw the tiny sparks appear in her eyes along with the small smile that formed on her lips.

He felt jealousy tugged at his heart and forced it down. He had no right to be jealous, because no matter how much his heart wishes it, his mind knew the fact of their relationship. He's nothing more than just a friend to her.

She stayed there until the sun was no longer visible, still not sparing him a look. He wanted to say something, anything to kill the silence that was gradually eating at him. He wanted to ask, he wanted to know.

"Do you want to leave?"

He watched as she gently turned her head to finally look at him; the smile no longer there, the spark gone from her eyes. He stared at her and waited for her to answer but nothing came. He was about to open his mouth again to tell her she didn't need to answer when a loud buzzing sound came from within her pocket. He disinterestedly observed her pull out the device and flip it open to reveal three blinking dots on the screen.

"Three hollows, all at the same area. They're not that powerful so we can finish this before dinner." With sense of emergency, Rukia stood and prepared to pop a Chappy pill, ready to jump off the rooftop any second. After separating her soul from her faux body, she looked back and frowned when he was not moving.

"Come on, Ichigo. Let's go!"

Groaning, he followed suit. There was no point in dwelling.

"I don't get why we should take care of it. Where's that Soul Reaper in charge of Karakura anyway?" He muttered while lazily pulling his weight from the rough surface of the roof of their clinic.

"Stop complaining and move already." Rukia replied, raising her foot, ready to kick him into action.

"Alright, already." He moved before the kick landed on his face. He changed to his Soul Reaper form and quickly jumped off to their neighbor's roof, leaving Rukia alone. He didn't look back to see if she would follow, for he knew she would. He simply looked ahead as the sky was now fully dark and there were no evidence of either the orange or the red of the sunset.


End file.
